Reactivity of eumelanin building blocks: A DFT study of monomers and dimers

Melanins are natural pigments with important biological properties and have been considered promising materials for several bio-electronic applications. In spite of it, until now there is no satisfactory understanding of the macromolecular structure of these compounds. In this work, we have employed...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Alves, Gabriel G.B. [UNESP], Lavarda, Francisco C. [UNESP], Graeff, Carlos F.O. [UNESP], Batagin-Neto, Augusto [UNESP]
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Brasil
Recursos:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/200284
Acesso em linha:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmgm.2020.107609
http://hdl.handle.net/11449/200284
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Electronic structure calculation
Fukui indexes
Melanin
Reactivity
Descrição
Resumo:Melanins are natural pigments with important biological properties and have been considered promising materials for several bio-electronic applications. In spite of it, until now there is no satisfactory understanding of the macromolecular structure of these compounds. In this work, we have employed electronic structure calculations to evaluate the local reactivity on monomeric building blocks of eumelanin and on a varied combination of these units (dimers). The reactivity studies were accomplished by Condensed-to-Atoms Fukui Indexes in a DFT approach. The results have evidenced a dominance order in the reactivity of the building units that guides the polymerization process of melanin. In addition, from the differences of the local reactivities it was possible to better understand the reactions that can take place during eumelanin synthesis and estimate how they could be influenced by experimental conditions.